Mike Pompeo was always the White House’s man in Foggy Bottom, not the other way around. His words and actions are a reflection of that reality, never mind the spin. And as the impeachment inquiry heats up, Mr. Pompeo has also become more insulting to folks with brains (see Mike Pompeo Insults Reporters Who Ask Questions He Doesn’t Like #OhGoodness!). And now he’s gone on to accusing Ambassador Bill Burns of auditioning for his job in a future Warren administration.

This could be the tipping point in Foggy Bottom when it comes to Swagger Mike, as he is reportedly known, and how many more folks still want to take a selfie with him. “One Team” is a joke when one can protect oneself but seemingly unable or unwilling to protect one’s people. And being an insufferable and embarrassing exemplar of behavior … well, what is there left to say? Except that State Department folks are extremely lucky they have a shinny new professional ethos to gaze and exhibit, and a “One Team” Award with glass statuettes.

In which Pompeo again refuses to stand up for Amb Yovanovitch and slanders former @StateDept Deputy Sec Bill Burns, finest diplomat of his generation. How contemptible. Now tell me about your “ethos” again. https://t.co/2JR23nIS3D

Guttersniping. Bill Burns isn’t looking for a job. He has one: leader of the @CarnegieEndow. But he is coming to the defense of Foreign & Civil Officers that are the heart of U.S. diplomacy & whose service, expertise, & courage Pompeo scorns. https://t.co/Iyi3JTU5Ex

All who know Bill Burns trust his selfless commitment to the Foreign Service and State Department. Mike Pompeo has lost all credibility as a leader of our career diplomats with this grossly unfair charge. https://t.co/97CGxrHUKR

Trump’s scorched-earth tactics, casual relationship with truth, and contempt for career public service bear more than a passing resemblance to the playbook that Roy Cohn wrote for Joseph McCarthy, writes William J. Burns.https://t.co/269nBkU7uW

This is a disappointing interview. Pompeo is not confronted with the $250m of appropriated US aid that was withheld from Ukraine, asked to explain the extra $140m sent later without an appropriation, etc. https://t.co/q1AIjMkE0O

We understand from a source on background that there was guidance circulated within the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) this past May saying that there will be no IDAHOT/Pride cable this year. The directive reportedly came from the 7th floor although it apparently also said, there is no change in policy, including on display of the Pride flag. “The best we can do is rely on last year’s cable and the statement that policy has not changed.”

The directive last year would have been sent by an Acting Under Secretary for Management as there was no confirmed “M” at the State Department since U/S Kennedy departed his position in January 2017.

On June 7, NBC News reported that the U.S. embassies in Israel, Germany, Brazil and Latvia have requested permission from the State Department to fly the rainbow pride flag on their flagpoles and have been denied, citing three unnamed U.S. diplomats.

On June 10, State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus told NBCNews that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo “respects the dignity of every individual” but did not believe other flags should fly alongside the American flag at U.S. embassies.

In an interview with NBC News, VPOTUS said that the Trump administration had “put no restrictions” on the pride flag or other flags flying elsewhere at U.S. embassies. When pressed, he also said, “We both feel that way very passionately, but when it comes to the American flagpole, and American embassies, and capitals around the world, one American flag flies.”

Another official who is LGBT speaking on background told this blog that flying the Pride flag on the flag pole with the U.S. flag has always been controversial. This same official told us that while he/she personally does not believe that they should fly the Pride flag on the flag pole, there are others who have cited the Flag Act to justify flying the pride flag:

4 U.S. Code § 7 – Position and manner of display(f) When flags of States, cities, or localities, or pennants of societies are flown on the same halyard with the flag of the United States, the latter should always be at the peak. When the flags are flown from adjacent staffs, the flag of the United States should be hoisted first and lowered last. No such flag or pennant may be placed above the flag of the United States or to the United States flag’s right.

This same source indicated to us that his/her understanding was that the Under Secretary for Management Brian Bulatao has not approved flying the Pride Flag on the same staff as the U.S. flag at State Department federal buildings within the United States and overseas (Mr. Bulatao was officially sworn into office in late May). We were told that this process is usually done via a decision memo and that this year, there was no cable in or out; which confirmed the circulated guidance reportedly from DRL in May. This official also told us that his/her understanding is that posts are free to display the pride flag everywhere and anywhere, or to light up embassies in the pride colors, or do anything else they want to mark Pride month. EXCEPT fly the Pride Flag on the pole.

We should note that in previous years, some posts, not all, have marked Pride Month with a rainbow flag on the flagpole or hanging the rainbow flag on the side of the embassy building. Others participated in local pride parades, or lighting up the embassy in rainbow colors. Social media indicates that our overseas posts are marking Pride month in a similar manner (poles excepted) this year, but they have not/not been prevented from marking or celebrating the event (if post is preventing you from marking Pride Month, holler, please).

Also typically, on June 1st or within the first week of June, the Secretary of State also releases a statement marking LGBTI Pride Month. Pompeo did that last year on June 1st. The year before that, his predecessor Rex Tillerson released a similar statement on June 7, 2018. This year, we’re still waiting for a similar statement from Secretary Pompeo; 18 days to go before the days of June runs out. Write faster, folks!

Here is the official spox addressing the “except on the pole” issue:

WATCH: After @NBCNews report on State Dept. barring US embassies from flying #pride flag on flagpoles, a spokesperson says:

After serving one full year as the 70th Secretary of State, Secretary Pompeo unveiled the “new professional ethos” for the State Department last Friday. The celebration was done on a glorious spring day when the tulips were in full bloom and the cherry blossoms were nodding their heads in the wind. The event reportedly featured “Happy!” by Pharrell Williams, and all the happy people they could find. It sounds like for Mr. Pompeo and his top level buddies, this is the best of times, even touting a year, in their view, of “enormous success.” This in the face of another fiscal year with a new round of proposed deep budget cuts for Pompeo’s agency, cuts that this secretary of state supported and defended.

The good news is (coz we have to find one) although the “new professional ethos” went though some 30 versions, and involved some sort of “listening tour”, we have not yet heard that this cost thousands of dollars in public money for management consultants’ fees. (If you know otherwise, let us know). The banner and printed paper featuring the new professional ethos killed some trees, so we all definitely need to plant new trees next Arbor Day. Also, the rumored language alluding to leaks, and to NDAs apparently got killed somewhere along the way (not that you need a new NDA when you already have OF312). Soon there will be an “Ethos Award”, and when that is done, how long before we see the “Best in Swagger” Award?

If the “ethos” initiative is intended to help shore up morale in Foggy Bottom, they’ll have a long way to go. As of this month, halfway through this administration’s term, the career appointments to ambassadorial posts is 51%. In actual numbers that means, 74 career professionals were nominated and confirmed as chief of mission, while 70 political appointees were nominated and confirmed as ambassadors.

When it comes to senior officials in Foggy Bottom, the situation is much worse; in two under secretary offices (M, R) overseeing multiple bureaus, the appointees in acting capacity are not even Senate-confirmed officials. And you can definitely count career appointees with one hand. With the exception of the Under Secretary for Political Affairs and the Director General of the Foreign Service (who are both active senior Foreign Service officers), and Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs who is a retired FSO, all the regional and functional bureaus are headed by political appointees. According to the AFSA tracker, the assistant secretary career appointments during the last several presidential terms are as follows: GWBush – 32%, Clinton-53%, GHWBush-50%, Reagan-39%, Carter-48.5%, Ford-78%).

Budget and staffing. Money and people. Secretary Pompeo may say and write the right things to employees, and may be more accessible than his immediate predecessor, and he may be well-intentioned with his “new ethos” and swagger “initiatives” but in the grand scheme of things … as Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Your actions speak so loudly, I can not hear what you are saying.”

Mike Pompeo held a one-year anniversary event today at the State Department featuring “Happy!” by Pharrell Williams. But he’s struggled to make progress on key goals, ⁦@TracyKWilkinson⁩ reports https://t.co/1BIUBwWDJz

Trump and his top foreign policy officials Pompeo & Bolton are angering allies every few days with hardline actions. That leaves openings for China & Russia to build ties. Much of the damage is over US obsessions that pose no big threat, like Iran & Cuba. https://t.co/TLzLjCDFOm

Prior to Rex Tillerson, Senate votes confirming the secretary of state have been bipartisan. Vance, Christopher, and Powell all had voice votes. Baker and Albright had 99-0 votes. Rice had 85-13. All the rest had at least 90+ votes in the Senate until Tillerson who got 56-43, the lowest confirmation vote recorded going back to the Carter years. The current Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made the rank with the second lowest votes at 57-42. On January 23, 2017, he was previously confirmed CIA Director by the Senate by Yea-Nay Vote. 66 – 32.

This clip of the secretary of state talking about the “rapture” is not new (though we’ve just seen it). It has been around prior to his confirmation earlier this year. Although 10 more senators refused to confirm him as SecState than the year earlier as CIA director, he got one more vote than Tillerson (including seven Democratic votes) and was confirmed as 70th Secretary of State (with the second lowest votes at confirmation).

Trump's SECRETARY OF STATE, America's chief diplomat, said "We will continue to fight these battles, it is a never ending struggle… until the Rapture." Holy shit. pic.twitter.com/M727uMoq4w

How @SecPompeo compliments Trump: "The president’s own public communications themselves function as a deterrence mechanism. The all-caps tweet he directed at Iranian President Hassan Rouhani … was informed by a strategic calculation":https://t.co/4SYCfVvoFU